Carol S. Eliel confirmed as the next AAMC President

 AAMC Announces its Fifth President, Carol S. Eliel

The Association of Art Museum Curators announced today the election of Carol S. Eliel, Curator of Modern Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as its fifth president.  "In many ways, Carol has been the heart and soul of the AAMC since its founding ten years ago, so it is more than appropriate that she should be leading the organization into its next decade,” says Sally Block, Executive Director of the AAMC.  "Carol is one of the most respected scholars in the profession and her demonstrated commitment to curators is unwavering. It is an added bonus that she will be our first West Coast President, a region where we have seen a steady growth in membership over the past few years.”  Prior to her election, Eliel served as the AAMC’s Vice President for Communications (2009-11), Co-chair of the Prize Committee (2005-7) and Chair of the Collections Committee (2003-5).  She has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2005. 

Eliel began her tenure at LACMA in 1984.  She has organized numerous exhibitions of classic modern art including The Apocalyptic Landscapes of Ludwig Meidner and L’Esprit Nouveau: Purism in Paris, 1918-1925; of cutting-edge contemporary art including Annette Messager and Contemporary Projects 6: Mariko Mori; and of mid-century art including SoCal: Southern California Art of the 1960s and 70s from LACMA’s Collection.  Most recently, she organized the exhibition David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy, currently on view at LACMA.   Eliel has also been responsible for numerous acquisitions at LACMA ranging from Marcel Duchamp to Aaron Curry.

Eliel succeeds John B. Ravenal, Sydney and Francis Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  "John’s major contribution to the organization has been his thoughtful approach to professionalizing the AAMC,” Block says, "His term coincided with a tremendous period of growth for the organization, and John placed a premium on making sure that our governance and programmatic agendas were refined and well implemented.” During Ravenal’s tenure, the North American membership grew to over 1100 curators and the organization distributed over $45,000 in professional development travel grants.  Ravenal will continue to serve as a Trustee.

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Contact:

Sally Block, Executive Director, 212-879-5701, sally.block@artcurators.org